Summary
Monitoring the CPU temperature held little significance to the average user until recently. Withnewer and power-hungrier CPUs making it to the mainstream market faster than ever, it has become crucial toinstall a powerful cooleron top of the CPUs, and monitoring the temperature for optimal performance and protecting the CPUs from thermal throttling has likewise become extremely important these days.
Thankfully, with upgraded CPUs and motherboards, it has also gotten much easier monitor the temperature of different parts of the PC build through the sensors. However, you still need an interface or a tool that can show you the CPU temperature. If you are a newbie in the field of computer hardware and want to know how you can do this using the latest Windows, Linux or Mac operating systems, we have a couple of ways through which you can check your CPU temperature regularly and keep thermal throttling at bay.
The BIOS Method
Checking the CPU temperature in the BIOS is a common method that works across most PC devices, including desktops and laptops from different brands. BIOS is the area that stores your firmware settings, and it’s easy to find your CPU properties here.
Accessing the BIOS may differ from device to device. Most PCs allow accessing the BIOS through a simple press of a key at the boot. The BIOS key should always be pressed before the OS starts to load. Typically, you would want to press and hold that key after you switch on or restart your PC to not miss the BIOS area.
Some of the most common keys for accessing the BIOS are:Delete,ESC,F2, andF12. Entering the BIOS on a desktop generally requires you to press the Del key, but on laptops, the key can be different and varies from vendor to vendor. On Acer, Asus, Dell, MSI, and Sony laptops, the key is usually F2 or Del.
Once you enter the BIOS, you will see a dashboard that lists your hardware and a menu for various settings. The dashboard’s interface will differ from vendor to vendor and most likely the CPU temperature will be displayed right in the primary area. Note that this temperature will change as you go into your OS and start some apps or games. When you start using your CPU, you won’t be able to check the real-time temperature of your CPU from the BIOS, as accessing it requires a restart.
Using Third-Party Utilities and Software
Due to BIOS limitations on checking the CPU temperature in real-time, some developers took the task of developing CPU temperature monitor utilities. There are plenty of them, each boasting different functionalities and interfaces.
If you want a quick lightweight tool, you should useCore Temp. It’s a 1.2MB app with a simple interface. Make sure when you install this application, you uncheck the additional icon recommendations to remove the bloatware. Once it’s installed, you can see the temperature of your CPU along with its real-time frequencies, power consumption, and load on individual cores.
you may further customize the functions of this tool through the ‘Options’ tab, where you will find several sub-tabs that allow you to change the properties. Once you minimize the tool, the temperature will be shown at the right-bottom corner of the taskbar.
You can display the temperatures in Fahrenheit, make changes to the polling interval, and select how much detail you want to see on your taskbar. By selecting “Highest temperature per processor”, hovering on the number displayed on the taskbar will reveal the temperature of all the cores. But by selecting “All cores”, you will be able to see the package temperature instead of individual cores.
A similar yet more extensive tool is theCPUID HWMonitorfromHWinfo. Not only does it reveal the temperature of individual cores, but also monitors the temperature and usage of other components.
Furthermore, you can see the real-time voltage supply to each core, monitor the case fans and CPU fan speed, and check miscellaneous data. The CPUID HWMonitor is an ideal tool to monitor the real-time temperatures and usage of your components when you are running an application.
Similarly, there are some other popular temperature monitoring tools, likeNZXT CAM,Open Hardware Monitor, andSpeedFan.All differ in some of their functionalities, but are pretty accurate.
Monitoring CPU Temperature While Gaming
Checking the real-time temperature while you are playing games is a little complicated. Unlike how you can open a third-party CPU tool on top of another application, it’s going to be difficult to do the same when gaming.
Typically, the game pauses when you open another app or tab on top of it by pressing, which reduces the load on the CPU. This is why you needMSI Afterburnerif you want to keep playing games while also displaying the real-time CPU temperature on your screen.
MSI Afterburner is a utility that is popular for overclocking your GPU, but it isn’t just limited to GPU overclocking. It has various functionalities, including fan curves, benchmarking, screen capture, and more. What you need to do is first download the app from theofficial website.
Once you open it, click onSettings > Monitoring(tab).Here you will find the option to check the metrics you want to display inside your gameplay screen. Select all the CPU cores or just the CPU, then check the “Show in On-Screen Display” and press ‘OK’.
Checking CPU Temperature On a Mac
Mac devices don’t use the same programs as Windows ones and therefore, the third-party tools and even the built-in functions for checking the CPU temperature will be a lot different from Windows computers. Mac computers generally use Intel or Apple M processors, and you will be able to monitor their temperatures in real time through two different methods:
1.Terminal
- A third-party app
The first method requires you to open theTerminal,which you can open by pressing ‘Command’+‘Spacebar’. Search for ‘Terminal’ and once opened, type the following command:
sudo powermetrics –samplers smc |grep -i “CPU die temperature”
It may ask you to enter your password and once you enter it, you will be able to see your CPU temperature in real-time. Note that this method only works withIntelCPUs, but for Apple M chips, you will have to use third-party apps.
There are plenty of them and one of the best ones to use isHOT.you’re able to download it fromXS-Labsand once you install it, you will be able to see the CPU temperature in real-time along with various CPU metrics like Speed Limit and a temperature graph. You can keep it open while you run intensive apps like Cinebench to see the temperature rising in real time.
Some other good apps for measuring both Intel and Apple M CPUs on Mac devices areTG Pro, Fanny, Monity,andiStat.Some of them are paid, but some are free to use.
What Should be Your CPU Temperature?
There isn’t any fixed number that is ideal for your CPU health, but it’s recommended to keep your CPU in a certain range for longer life and optimal performance. The CPU’s temperature will always be higher than the ambient temperature because it is made up of electrical circuits that heat up the die once the voltages start flowing through them. The higher the load gets, the hotter the CPU will become.
The best CPU temperature range falls between 50-70 degrees Celcius. Temperatures below 50 degrees are excellent, but mostly unachievable during 100% CPU usage. Temperatures higher than 70 degrees won’t kill your CPU and will probably be fine unless the temperature is kept in an 80-100 degrees range most of the time, which can decrease the CPU lifespan.
In normal or during smaller operations, the CPUs can maintain a temperature of 40-60 degrees Celcius. During idle, it should be even lower. With heavier tasks, like rendering or gaming, where the CPU usage can exceed 50%, the temperature will go over 50 degrees quite easily. At 100% usage for a long period of time, don’t be worried if the temperature crosses 70 degrees Celsius, but it’s best to implement measures that will keep the temperature under control. We will explain the best methods to cool your CPU later, but right now, let’s move to the next question, which is one of the most frequently asked ones.
What CPU Temperature is too High?
CPUs have a Max Operating Temperature, also known as the critical temperature, beyond which the CPU starts to thermally throttle. Thermal throttling is a process in which the CPU automatically downclocks itself to protect against physical damage caused by overheating. Every CPU has a maximum operating temperature. Operating at that max will limit performance and degrade the CPU’s life.
However, the degradation starts a bit sooner than the maximum temperature. Generally, most modern CPUs today have a max operating temperature of around 100 degrees Celcius. Some CPUs may have a bit lower max temperature,like Ryzen 3D CPUs, which have 89 degrees Celcius as the critical temperature. The latest Raptor Lake Refresh CPUs from Intel are rated at 100 degrees, but Ryzen non-3D CPUs from the Zen 4 family are rated at 95°C.
Technically, there is nothing to worry about if your CPU runs below the critical temperature, but once it starts going over 80 or 85 degrees Celcius, it’s a bit too high for the CPU. At this point, you may need to make sure your CPU gets enough cooling to run at cooler temperatures and maintain its maximum clock speeds.
How to Cool Your CPU Effectively?
There are plenty of methods to cool your CPU, and it isn’t just limited to the CPU cooler. If you want to make sure your CPU remains cooler for optimal performance, here are some of the best methods you can implement:
Upgrade to an AIO: If you are using a stock CPU cooler that came with your CPU, you will be better off with a single or dual tower aftermarket air cooler, but modern mid-range and high-end CPUs have bigger needs. If you are using an octa-core CPU from the latest generation, it’sbetter to go for an AIOfrom the very start. Go for at least a 240mm AIO if you don’t overclock your CPU and just want to keep the temperature down while gaming or intensive operations. If you are an overclocker, a 280mm or a 360mm AIO will be best.
Increase Airflow: To increase the airflow in the chassis, there are a number of methods you can carry out, including adding more case fans at the front, rear, or top for a balanced airflow. This will dissipate the heat faster while also increasing the cool air intake. If your chassis doesn’t have enough ventilation,upgrading the case to a more ventilated onewill be a dealbreaker.
Clean: Is your PC accumulating a lot of dust? This is one of the most common reasons for overheating. Use an air blower or an electronic cleaning brush to remove the dust from your motherboard, CPU cooler, and other components. This will have a big impact on the overall cooling of your PC, not just the CPU.
Downclock: If nothing seems to work, it’s time that you downclock your CPU a bit. Downclocking is the process through which you decrease the clock frequencies of your CPU. This will result in somewhat inferior performance, but it will lower your CPU temperature by a few degrees. you’re able to useIntel XTU, Ryzen Master,or EVGA Precision X to complete this task.
FAQ
Q: How to check CPU temperature in Windows 10/11 without BIOS?
Unfortunately, Windows 10 and 11 don’t come with any built-in feature to measure your CPU temperature. You have to download a third-party app to check the CPU temperature.
Q: Is 70 degrees hot for a CPU?
70 degrees is considered somewhat hot, but it is still in the acceptable range. There is nothing to worry about if your CPU keeps running near 70°C but it’s best to implement our recommended methods to lower the temperature.
Q: How do I check my CPU and GPU temps?
You can use CPUID HWMonitor or MSI Afterburner if you want to monitor the temperature of both CPU and the GPU at the same time.
